THE FRENCH CONFRONTED WITH CORONAVIRUS | M6 | 66 minutes

On February 25 last, Dominique Varoteaux, a teacher at the Jean de la Fontaine technical college in Crépy-en-Valois in the Oise, died of a respiratory infection caused by coronavirus. He was the first to die of this mysterious virus that surfaced in China at the end of December 2019. Since then fear has imposed its grip and the epidemic has spread: more than 1,600 infections in ten days and nearly thirty dead. How are the French reacting to Covid-19, the scientific name for this mystery virus? We are with the families in the towns of the Oise where containment has been ordered. And how is this crisis being managed at a local level? The mayor of Nogent-sur-Oise is active on all fronts. Finally, how are doctors attempting to screen and reassure a population about a virus for which, at present, there is no vaccine or even an effective treatment? A report from the heart of a health crisis in mainland France.